In the coffee service industry, individual doses of coffee, tea or chocolate are often offered in small containers, packs, sachets or packets that are configured to be readily inserted in a brewing machine. Such packets sold under the brand name FLAVIA® are commercially available from the Mars Incorporated of McLean, Va. and are generally described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,258,061, Campbell et al., incorporated herein by reference.
Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2 there is shown a number of beverage container items or packaged articles of the prior art in the form of coffee packets 1 arranged in a queue 2 and slidingly held on a support track 3 for dispensing. Each of the packets 1 has a pouch portion 5 for holding ground coffee formed by a pair of foil-lined plastic sheets bonded along a periphery and is slightly pliable. Each packet uses a substantially rigid plastic, carrier structure 4 secured to the top of the packet which allows the packet to dangle below the track 3 while being slidingly secured to it.
Referring now to FIG. 2, the carrier structure, or simply carrier 4 has a substantially cylindrical shank 20 of given diameter extending upward from the middle of the top edge 21 of the packet 1 on a substantially vertical axis 22. The top end of the shank widens to form a head 23 so that it has an undersurface 24 which slidingly bears against the upper surfaces of the track. The entire weight of the item is thus supported by the head while engaging the track. From the top, the head has a generally slightly elongated octagonal shape so that there are angled surfaces 25 which transition between the substantially flat front edge 26 of the head to the side edges 27 of the head, and from the side edges to the substantially flat back edge 28. The top of the head also has a peripheral upwardly extending wall 18 surrounding an inner indentation 29. In the middle of the indentation is a raised circular frangible nipple 17 providing access to the inside of the pouch.
An array of supports can be arranged in a housing and is usually placed next to the brewing machines for the convenience of employees and customers. In most cases, this type of beverage service is provided and paid for by the employer.
The system is subject to abuses, however. Unscrupulous employees may grab handfuls of containers for use at home. Unsupervised persons, such as maintenance and janitorial crews who frequent the premises during off hours may also be tempted to help themselves to undue quantities of goods.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US-2009-0057333, Simson et al., incorporated herein by reference, discloses a tamper resistant vending device having a detachable magazine containing an array of separately activatable cartridges for dispensing one of several queues of items in independent cartridges using a pneumatic driving means. Such a system is not readily adaptable to dispensing the carrier topped packets described above.
In many vending contexts, maintaining a large number of customer choices is preferred. For example, a single vending machine may seek to provide a variety of coffee selections. Depending on the vagaries of consumer habits, some varieties may run out quicker than others prompting restocking. Restocking of a dispenser located at a customer site often requires the time-consuming task of manually loading of the packets onto their supports from the front of the support. It is generally preferred that restocking frequency of a machine is kept to a minimum because of the cost associated with an operator visit.
The items can be supplied in a queue on a storage or transportation rail oriented at an acute angle with respect to the major axis of the rail so that the width of the queue is reduced to facilitate greater packing density of a number of storage or transportation rails.
There is a need to find a convenient solution to the controlled presentation and dispensing of small packaged articles.